Cars.com

Objective

Turn AI into a monetization lever for an auto marketplace where about 89% of revenue comes from subscribing dealers. Cars.com uses the Carson engine on the buyer side to make its marketplace perform better (more engagement, better conversion from results to vehicle detail pages), which strengthens the value sold to dealers, then packages its AI building blocks into paid solutions offered to those same dealers to generate more leads and profit.

The deployment

Cars.com operates a US auto marketplace whose revenue comes mostly from subscribing dealers ($162 million out of $181.6 million in Q3 2025 revenue, or about 89%). On November 6, 2025, it launched Carson, a multilingual AI search engine that turns a natural-language query (for example a reliable, affordable vehicle for a family of five) into targeted results, in place of filters. More than 70% of visitors start their search with no make or model in mind, which Carson is meant to unlock. On the buyer side, Cars.com quantifies the effect: Carson assists about 15% of web and mobile web searches, its users return twice as often, save three times as many vehicles, and convert nearly 30% better from results pages to vehicle detail pages. CEO Alex Vetter summarized the impact on the Q3 2025 earnings call by pointing to a doubling of visitor engagement. On the monetization side, Cars.com turns these AI capabilities into products sold to its dealers: on January 29, 2026, it announced four solutions including AI-Powered Inventory Video, which generates vehicle-specific video ads and shows twice the lead conversion of standard video. The number of subscribing dealers reached 19,526 in Q3 2025, a three-year high, and dealer revenue returned to growth (up 2% year over year) in the record-revenue quarter.

Results Proof A

The monetization figures come from Exhibit 99.1 of the 8-K filed with the SEC for Q3 2025 (record revenue of $182 million, dealer revenue of $162 million, dealer growth of 2%, 19,526 dealers), an uninterpreted primary document. The Carson and dealer-solution metrics come from official brand press releases published on cars.com. Three concordant T1 sources, including a financial filing.

The internal detail is not public. Here is a proven approach that leads to the same result, to adapt to your stack.

1. 1
   Buyer's natural-language query customer

   The visitor describes their need in plain language (budget, use, reliability) instead of handling filters; more than 70% arrive with no make or model in mind.

2. 2
   AI interprets and returns targeted results AI

   Carson interprets the query and returns a tailored results page, with summaries (award-winning vehicles, made-in-America index), to drive the click toward vehicle detail pages.

3. 3
   Conversion to the vehicle detail page and the dealer customer

   The buyer moves from results to the vehicle detail page and then to the dealer; Cars.com measures SRP-to-VDP conversion, saves, and leads.

4. 4
   Packaging the AI building blocks into sold solutions data team

   Cars Commerce turns its AI capabilities into paid products (VIN-level inventory video, market-area expansion, reporting) offered to subscribing dealers.

5. 5
   Dealer activation and subscription billing customer

   The dealer subscribes and activates the AI solution on their inventory; the revenue flows into dealer revenue, which accounts for about 89% of the group's revenue.